The Pinboard

A couple of weeks ago we were in Plymouth, (on one of the very few actual summer days), walking along below Hoe Park, and saw some sea swimmers reaching the shore at a small beach near the Lido. A crowd was welcoming

A couple of weeks ago we were in Plymouth, (on one of the very few actual summer days), walking along below Hoe Park, and saw some sea swimmers reaching the shore at a small beach near the Lido. A crowd was welcoming what we saw were more and more swimmers - so we went down to investigate.

It turns out that it was a fundraising swim for The Chestnut Appeal, the prostate cancer charity in which 100 swimmers had raised money by swimming the 2.5 miles of open water from the Breakwater to the shore.

Okay, so it's not swimming the Channel, but open water swimming is quite challenging, and as several or more of the swimmers appeared to be Silver Greys, it seemed like something we should look into. On talking to one of the swimmers, we found out that the event had been organised by The Chestnut Appeal, a fair number of the swimmers had come from a group called Devon and Cornwall Wild Swimming, and further enquiry revealed that indeed there were quite a few swimmers over the age of 50.

Apparently there is a thriving and active scene in the South West of what is called Wild Swimming - swimming in lakes, rivers and the open sea - and plenty of these swimmers would qualify as Silver Greys. So firstly, a big hand for those who completed the swim and raised funds for the Chestnut Appeal, and secondly, look out for more on our site on these Silver Greys and Wild Swimming.

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Triathlon is one of the most popular sports among Silver Grey athletes. The International Triathlon Union will soon be launching an age group section of their website. We'll let you know when it goes live.